Wenger pleased to see Arsenal rest paying off

Arsène Wenger came under fire for his decision to rest his players at the start of the season but the Arsenal manager believes that decision is beginning to pay off.

With the likes of Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez all in international action over the summer, Wenger took the decision to delay their starts to the season and give them a proper break.

While Arsenal looked under-cooked to start their campaign, they appear to be coming into some form now, and Wenger believes that is a direct result of his decision.

(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

He said: “I have to make the right decisions and be convinced by the things I do, so that is what I do. I have managed players who go to the big tournaments for a long, long time and I gave a longer break to Alexis – I gave him five weeks because he had an ankle injury as well.

“I believe it took them some time to come back to their best but it was the right decision.

“I believe we have improved tremendously on the muscular injury front in the last two three or years.

“Last year we were a bit unlucky with the knocks we got, and the joint injuries we got.

“It was down to blocks in the game. On the muscular front, I think we have done much better and hopefully we can continue that.

“It is not just one measure, but it is to analyse the level of fatigue, of recovery, the preparation, the prevention.

“Everything is a bit more scientific and maybe that makes it a bit more predictable as to what will happen.

“We know the players very well because we have had data for a few years and we can analyse when players got injured, the repetition of a few signs and some warnings that we can now know much better about them now.”